Built from 1406 to 1420, the Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the early Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It has been a major attraction for almost all the dynasties of China. In 1912, Puyi, the last Emperor of China, abdicated. Under an agreement with the new Republic of China government, Puyi remained in the Inner Court, while the Outer Court was given over to public use where a small museum was set up to display the artifacts housed in the Outer Court of the Forbidden City. In 1924, Puyi was evicted from the Inner Court after a coup. The Palace Museum was then established in the Forbidden City on October 10, 1925. The Forbidden City and its museum holds about 320,000 pieces of porcelain from the imperial collection. The rest are almost all held in the National Palace Museum in Taipei and the Nanjing Museum. The complex of the Forbidden City consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8,707 bays of rooms and covers 720,000 square metres. The palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere.

The Forbidden City

byMeilin Wang

Built from 1406 to 1420, the Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the early Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It has been a major attraction for almost all the dynasties of China. In 1912, Puyi, the last Emperor of China, abdicated. Under an agreement with the new Republic of China government, Puyi remained in the Inner Court, while the Outer Court was given over to public use where a small museum was set up to display the artifacts housed in the Outer Court of the Forbidden City. In 1924, Puyi was evicted from the Inner Court after a coup. The Palace Museum was then established in the Forbidden City on October 10, 1925. The Forbidden City and its museum holds about 320,000 pieces of porcelain from the imperial collection. The rest are almost all held in the National Palace Museum in Taipei and the Nanjing Museum. The complex of the Forbidden City consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8,707 bays of rooms and covers 720,000 square metres. The palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere.